Is This as Special as it Appears?
As remarkable as this victory seems, the question needs to be asked. Is this as special as it appears? Does this mark a turning point in the political history of Greenwich? Will it endure, or will it suffer a fate similar to the pussy hat liberals?
The concern that motivates this article is that there may be enough similarities in the composition of these two groups to suggest the new group will make the same mistakes as the old group. Then the success doesn’t look so special. So, it remains to be seen.
But then, what motivates the new members of the GRTC is arguably different. It directly affects their children, their futures. They have every reason to fight – fight every day, and keep fighting until you win. Metaphorically, the events of 2021 mean conservatives can’t go home. They must stay and fight until victory is complete.
Moral Equivalency, What Moral Equivalency?
A typical liberal arguing trick is to discover a moral equivalency with a counterargument. It is a great way to miss the main point. This is also helps to explain why the town’s liberal press is speechless. Liberty? They don’t get it? No mask or vaccine mandates? They don’t get it. Critical race theory, et. Al. Yep, they don’t get it.
Also, the misguided search for moral equivalency supports the kind of wrong-headedness that creates disasters. It drives a mindset that ultimately leads to a dead end. Cue the pussy hat liberals.
Are the Pussy Hat Liberals Failures?
The short answer would appear to be yes. They were inexperienced. They thought they had a good idea, but no sense of what they were getting into. Politics is a profession, not a hobby. Moreover, like it or not, much of that professionalism is closely and tightly woven together with the boring and endlessly aggravating thing called government administration. Not knowing what you are doing would be the first prerequisite for failure.
However, just as with this election, situations can change dramatically in a short period of time. The pussy hat liberals have not been heard from as a political entity in many months. Where did they go? There are no known political victories they can claim. So, at the very least, over the last four and half years, the pussy hat liberals to have descended into obscurity: Yes, they are a failure. Maybe Christopher Fountain’s analysis was spot on: Bored upper middle class white liberal women with nothing better to do. They were caught up in the political moment, but had no staying power.
But there is a warning. Never count them or any other group out. Circumstances can always cause a revival. Observers like to talk about the great political pendulum that swings back and forth between conservatism and liberalism across election cycles. Also, political movements can work in cycles, but they can also self-destruct. America’s Federalist Party was key to the beginning of this nation. Yet it is a party that essentially committed suicide in Hartford, CT in 1814. Some remnants lasted, but it was effectively gone by 1816.
Others can fester, and hide for long periods of time. The communist party is supposed to be an anachronism, yet there is still a Connecticut Communist party over 100 years old. Remember that U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Connecticut State Senator Julie Kushner were caught at the point and both lied that they thought it was a “labor event”. Viability, for the Connecticut Communists, requires they have had to bury the violent revolution rhetoric and instead talk like mild mannered liberal democrats while methodically chipping away at our constitutional rights. Don’t be fooled.
So, with those historical examples in mind, the future disposition of the pussy hat liberals may not be completely dead, only thoroughly dead.
Lessons learned
The failures of the pussy hat liberals can be summarized in these four points:
-loud and emotional, but no long term commitment to their goals
-Narrow political vision
-Inflexible - “We have all the answers”
-Like minded but not single minded
The final point is that despite the parallels the real enemy of the GRTC is Hartford. Those who control Hartford present the most fundamental threat to the guiding principles. For that reason, the GRTC needs to develop strong connections throughout the state in order to build towards nominating conventions in May.
Dick Armey, a former U.S. Congressman from Texas once remarked at a convention for conservatives: First you have to fight the bad guys in your own party, then you have to go fight the real bad buys. Well, the new members of the GRTC can claim a first and small victory on the first part. Awaiting them will be the battles over who will be the nominees for the upcoming elections.
For a number of conservatives the hot issue will be looking at others in the party and deciding who really “gets it” when it comes to what the fight is really all about. The issues of taxes remain important, but there should be no confusion that the larger fight over liberty goes much deeper than taxes. If it is about labels, the old split between conservatives and moderates, between social and fiscal issues, is to be replaced with those who can be called Liberty Republicans and Chamber of Commerce Republicans.
So, the waters have receded, the “damage” is done, and now the rebuilding begins. Many will be praying every day for this group to succeed. Their impact will be felt literally everywhere. That all politics is local simply shows how connected everyone is. The story is Greenwich is being told in local elections all around the country. It’s about time.